Sen. Tom Carper: Companies Should Be Able To Remain Private with 500-Plus Shareholders

Delaware's Democratic Senator Tom Carper has submitted a bill for a vote, which would allow private companies to remain private while having more than 500 shareholders. You may recall Facebook made a decision to go private late last year due to coming close of exceeding this maximum. Carper's legislation would lift the minimum to 2000. "The size of a small company is different today compared to 50 years ago. We have companies in Delaware that would like to remain private, but that would like to have more than 500 shareholders before they think of going public," he told CNBC's Squawk Box this morning. Addressing the primary concern of SEC shareholder protection that has been voiced against his proposed regulation, Senator Carper notes, "Private companies are constrained, they are not growing. We want to give them the opportunity to focus on R&D, grow their product base and not have to worry about performing to the next quarter or earnings statement." "The idea that we cannot modify these 50-year-old laws iun orde rto improve access to capital and still protect investors, " concludes Carper, "is a false choice. "We are smart enough to do both.